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hs to afterschooling


Guest Vanessamom25
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Guest Vanessamom25

This will be our last year homeschooling because, sadly, I HAVE to go to school so that we can have a little more income. We have five children and I will be working 1 24 hr shift on Saturday as an EMT and then going to school to become an RN. Thankfully, a Pell Grant will pay for my school.

 

My question is how much afterschooling can I realistically expect the do with my children? Everytime a sit down to figure out what I am going to do, I get crazy and end up with what amounts to homeschool light rather than simply supplementing. Our children are 3, 4, 6, 10, 14. I end up wanting to do phonics, math, science, grammar, spelling, history, and a few Critical Thinking Books. I feel like that is crazy to expect them to do so much on top of regular school. So how do you decide what to supplement and what allow the school to do? I hate to just wait and see how they do and only cover subjects that the particular child finds difficult. Some subjects I would rather teach on my own any way, such as phonics and handwriting - penicl grip and neatness are important.

 

More realistcally, I could probably use the Calculadder CD, doing a drill sheet a day rather than a whole "math program" but after homeschooling so long I know how important is it to get that concrete ~understanding~ of concepts such as fractions, long division, and negative numbers. I personally had problems in math growing up and it was because I would follow the formula and pass the test, but when I hit Algebra I was lost. I actually took Algebra 4 times between highschool (then summer school) and remedial college classes!

 

I also wanted them to be able to diagram sentences. I am a visual learner as most of my children seem to be and diagraming "makes sense" to me. I also wanted them to write well. I seems to me the cheapest way to get both would be to use R&S grammar but that is a bit heavy on top of school. I could buy The Whole Book of Diagrams - doing only a couple of sentences a day and then do Writing Strands in the summer, but I am unsure as to which would be better and what if someone needs help w/ punctuation?

 

Then there is science, my children's favorite and history. I also want them to read many more classic lit (children's and "the classics") books than the local school offers. aaaaaaaa My head is just spinning.

 

There is also the time constraints I will have from household stuff and studying for my own classes. I have maintained a 4.0 so far this year, but our hs has suffered because of it. I find it very hard to work, hs, and go to school myself. Especially when I have finals. I can't keep myself for studying, not from selfishness, but because I am very much afraid of failing my final. It has been 12 years since I was in college and before that I only had a 10th grade education and a GED. Maybe I just need to stop and breathe a minute, whew!

 

I just really want to see my children well educated, but our local school system is near the bottom in GA, which isn't so good as a state. If I could just learn to go without sleep....mmmm.....lol Vanessamom25

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If I were you, I would investigate and research the district curriculums that are in use in your area. Every curriculum has strengths and weaknesses - then you could design your afterschooling to truly complement the program rather than "reteaching." One thing that I notice, working in a school, is that science, history, geography and art are virtually non-existent in traditional classrooms in this day and age of No Child Left Behind. Most students get 90-180 minutes of language instruction per day, 90 minutes of math instruction, then little time for anything else. You might want to leave the math and language alone for awhile (unless you see a major need) and concentrate on the areas that may not get much time in the classroom. Also, most traditional classrooms give a lot of homework, and it might be too overwhelming to do what you are proposing on top of their required homework.

 

I'd keep the diagramming sentences and intensive math supplements for holiday and summer break times and try to spend as much time outside of homework time enjoying learning with your kids - do science experiments, cook together (great for math!) read great books together, create art, explore nature, etc. Just my 2 cents!

 

Melisa

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supplementing what your school does rather than reteach. That's more or less what we try to do. Would it be possible to work with the school and give your children work to take with them? My girls have a folder that stays at school that has critical thinking, reading comp, etc., in it. At the very least, if the school has free reading time, you can send books with your children that you want them to read.

At home we do a lot of math because the math at their school stinks. We do Aleks, which is not cheap, but works very well for us and is self-directed. I work three days (the theoretical parttime that looks a lot like fulltime some weeks) so this helps me a lot. We do Kumon everyday. That also costs money though.

We used to do SOTW and lots of the activities and books, but since I started working we don't have that much time for it. The kids keep asking for it though.

We do Latin, using Cambridge Latin, and this week I'm trying a new approach. I am having them do Latin as part of our bedtime stories. Just ten minutes to read and review what they have learned. The rest they're supposed to do on their own.

We use Winston Grammar when we can and that can also be incorporated into bedtime stories. I'll read a page and ask the kids to identify the parts of speech (can't do this too much or it will ruin the story).

Audiobooks are great because you can sneak in lots of history and literature and science.

Every week I write down what I want the kids to do afterschool. Doesn't always work, but it's better than nothing.

The kids' school is a mixed bag and I alternately hate it and love it. We will be moving in a couple of years and then homeschooling fulltime though, so I think it's important enough to us to keep afterschooling so there is some continuity.

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It seems as though homeschooling is very important to you. I would think long and hard about if you going back to work is worth it. With 5 kids, childcare costs will be high. Plus you will have less time to cook, so that means more pre-prepared meals. You might need a second car. You will need clothes for work. Etc... As the number of kids increases, the difference in utility between working and staying home decreases.

 

Maybe your dh could pick up some extra work? Or maybe you could cut expenses? Or find a job you can do from home?

 

Anyway, since I don't know your family, I obviously can't say what you should or shouldn't do, but my advice is just to think it over long and hard before deciding.

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I think it will be hard for you--and by extension, your kids--to be happy if you aren't satisfied with the way the school is teaching *any* subjects. Trying to fully homeschool after they've been in school all day, and on top of homework, is going to burn you all out and leave no time for family fun.

 

Now, I'm blessed with a really great local school, but I've found I can trust the school with spelling, for example. And they do a far better job than I do with handwriting and writing. I have to keep an eye on the math, but in general, I only supplement what the school does. The school knocks my socks off in art.

 

To be honest, sentence diagramming is not high on my list. (And I'm a professional writer.) I'd like them to know how to do it, but that's something they can easily learn during one of their middle school summers, if the school doesn't get to it first.

 

Now, keep in mind that I am an afterschooling slacker in a lot of ways. Sometimes I feel guilty about this, and then I look at how much learning the kids do on their own and I decide that we are just unschooling afterschoolers. :D

 

I try to focus on just a few things that are really important, strew a lot for other areas, and make good use of school breaks.

 

Good luck.

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You have had so many good replies so far. I know that it is so hard to just focus on a few things. You'll also find that it will take longer to get through things. For example, we're do Sonlight Core C (K) this year and we're only on week 9 although we have read about a dozen other chapter books as well.

 

With children 3, 4, 6, 10, and 14, it looks like you'll have three in school and two in some kind of child care. Your 14 year old will probably have a lot of homework that will diminish afterschooling opportunities. The focus there will probably need to be encouraging good reading habits and helping with schoolwork and favorite interests. With your 10 year old, filling in the gaps of what the school provides will probably be your best bet particularly with lots of literature using read-alouds and books to read themselves.

 

I'm guessing that you'll want to work most closely with your 6 and 4 year olds. Those pre-K, K, and 1st grade years are crucial for getting down the basics. Again lots of read-alouds and games are going to be important. And with a 3 year old, just love them, cuddle, and read.

 

My 6 year old loves the Critical Thinking books which she calls "mind thinkers". However, she has suddenly taken an aversion to her Singapore math (EB 2A) and ETC. So I've taken to bribery and she gets 1 marble in her marble jar per page. She also gets marbles for her chores which she exchanges for privileges.

 

Housework wise: Your 14 year old and to some extent your 10 year old are big enough to take on a lot of chores. At 14, I made supper for our family every evening because my mom worked until 5:30 and hour away from home. I also did a lot of the cleaning just because I had to.

 

Best wishes as you sort out your plans.

 

LibrarianMom

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This is my first year to not homeschool (due to various reasons) and I have been wholeheartedly comitted to "afterschooling" with a specific agenda in mind. What I didn't consider was the long days at school for the kids, then homework (depending on the age of your children), dinner and then bedtime nearly. I found my plans were getting shot, and I was VERY distressed.

 

But, I finally had to have a little of a mental shift, which made things more reasonable. I made the mind shift from "afterschooling" to "enrichment." Somehow that didn't have quite the formal ring to it, for me anyway. Afterall, isn't our goal to grow chldren who love to learn, etc....isn't that what all parents want to do? Anyway, like someone mentioned in a post above, we spent more time on read aloud stories (history, etc), books on cd, science projects (because it was FUN), etc......

 

Are we still educating ~ of course. Are we doing x amount of pages from a curriculum, no (except for one child who LIKES to do this for fun). Anyway, it really destresed me and them when I quit having a after school schedule for them. We do more on the weekends and are setting up an informal "summer school" at home.

 

Just some thoughts ~ I felt like I was struggling with false expectations and letting go of the "homeschooling" label. Also, not working against the school system, but complementing it (or adding). Though, I am still teaching at tutorials and love it. So, I still have my foot in the door :)

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I thought I'd posted a message yesterday, but I don't see it anywhere.

 

Anyway, I agree with the others. You have to take homework into account. My 11 dd in 6th grade some days gets quite a bit, some not so much. I usually just support her school curriculum during the school year.

 

During the summer I focus on Spanish, her second language; this year for the first time she is doing a formal program in this area to cover grammar systematically. She also does Alex to keep her math skills going. She has always been an avid reader, so she does that without any prompting. Exercise is one area I have to push: swimming, cardio, specific skills. This summer we will also be doing some geography, I still have not decided what to use, but I already gathered some excellent ideas from these boards.

 

During this Easter Break she is doing Spanish, math and P.E.

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I am in a very similar situation as you...I have been homeschooling my children full time and been a SAHM since our oldest was a few months old. While I love homeschooling, I know that our family would benefit greatly in many ways by me also working. We'd be more financially stable, my husband would have less stress on his shoulders and would be able to relax a bit more, our children would see the value in continued learning no matter what age you are...etc.

 

I am meeting with an academic advisor at a local community college tomorrow evening to discuss me going back to school to be an RN. My career dream is to work in Postpartum/Nursery and possibly Labor and Delivery, and someday maybe become a Lactation Consultant.

 

If we decide now is the right time for us to do this, it will mean putting the older kids in PS for a few years. I would need to work part time on the weekends and take classes in the evening as much as possible for the pre-reqs, and don't feel I could give all I could to homeschooling during all of that. However I do plan on doing some afterschooling (or beforeschooling, whatever the case may be!) On paper I can see it working to continue homeschooling through the pre-reqs, but in reality dh feels I would end up so overwhelmed by it all.

 

I will definately be doing Latin and Nature studies with my kids, and would love to continue SOTW and science as I had planned, but at a slower pace than if we were full time homeschooling. I may also continue with Horizons math (I'm pretty sure the schools here use Saxon) with them both and ETC also because my goal would be to bring them back home after I graduate and get a job (I plan to try to work 3 12 hour days and HS the other 4 days then.) If I start this summer, I would graduate before the baby would be ready for K. We would also do schooling in the summer to keep their skills where they should be. It all depends on what the schools here do and if we feel the kids need more in certain areas.

 

Once the nursing clinicals start, it will be considerably more difficult to do this much, and I plan to reevaluate then on what they need and what we have time for.

 

Feel free to send me a PM if you want to talk more...it does sound like we are in about the same place right now. I don't want to "give up" on homeschooling as my dh would say, but realistically will need to constantly assess where we are and what we are able to do each quarter of my classes.

 

I know that either way, I will be afterschooling them in some things throughout this process...it just may look different throughout each quarter.

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Our situation is a bit different than most of yours, as my youngest is only in a school setting 2-to-3 days per week. On DS's off days, he does homework on the computer that takes about an an hour to finish. He also does not receive any other additional work from the school--so, no evening homework issues.

 

We spend 60 minutes the days Blaze's in school on SOTW & Sequential Spelling. On Blaze's home days we spend about 2.5-3 hours on math, CW: Aesop A, Sequential Spelling, and Latin. On Sunday mornings, we do Sequential Spelling, and Latin.

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  • 4 weeks later...
I am considering this next year. I have been homeschooling for 9 years, and I have five kids. It is becoming very stressful, and my health is not too great either.

 

How do you manage to prioritize everything?

 

Well, I don't know how anyone could manage work, school and homeschooling unless they had their dh to help with quite a lot. But afterschooling can work, although would be stressful. It's what I'm considering doing.

 

I am considering going back to school for several reasons. The first year of school I would be able to take the pre-req classes mostly at night, so I will continue to homeschool. If we do this, I will have to work 15-20 hours a week also, manageable with the right schedule for dh to be with the kids.

 

However, during the 2 years of nursing school, I just don't see how I can be that much of a supermom for that long of a time. Our solution (if we decide to go forward with this right now) will then be to put the kids in school for those 2 years and do whatever afterschooling I can do. I mean, I could work out the schedule to look good on paper and manage to do it all...but in reality, I'd need lots of time for studying, and time for sleep as well.....and that would require putting the kids in school. This is THE #1 reason I am so hesitant on doing this, I DON'T WANT to put the kids in school. But after giving it a lot of thought, I see no way I could do it all for 3 years and still remain sane! :lol: So it's a trade off for a couple years, and then I'd bring them back home once I had a job (hospital nursing jobs typically are 3 12 hour days here...I can homeschool the other 4...we homeschool 4 days a week typically anyway, so that could work.)

 

If anyone finds a way to make all this work, please let me know! I just don't see it working without some sacrifices during the time I'm in school.......hence the reason the decision has not been made yet.

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